Indi-Ana Jones and the Rainbow Amulets
by Edenite Babe
Summary: Indy has sadly passed on, as all great adventurers must. But there is a new Jones waiting in the wings - Indi-Ana, his great-granddaughter, is ready and waiting to save the world!
1. My Great-Gramps Was Who?!

They didn't have to tell me. I mean, technically I'm not even a Jones. See, I'm the illegitimate child of a fling my parents had in college and I've never met my real father - he left my mom when he found out she was pregnant. But no, my mother had to give me a weird name, after my great- grandfather, who died three years ago. I kinda miss him, but most of all I miss his stories. We have loads of tapes with 'Great-Gramps and the Temple of Doom' and stuff like that written on them that Mom made for me before I was born 'to remember him by'. I used to love going to visit him, because even though we couldn't act out his adventures, he told the stories in a way that made you feel as though they were really happening and you were there watching it.  
  
But anyway, back to my name, India Ana Jones. When I found out what Great-Gramps' first name was, I always gave Indiana Jones as my name. Eventually, when Mom realised I didn't like India, she gave in and changed all the formal stuff (except my birth certificate) to Indi-Ana. Since then everyone's called me Indy, although when Mom's mad at me she calls me India. Me and my crew (who are all still my best friends now) used to sit by the cassette recorder for hours listening to the tapes when we were smaller. I can even remember a phase when I couldn't sleep unless one of the tapes was playing, which cost a fortune in electricity bills. Even then I still couldn't sleep some nights, because it would get to a good bit and I would have to stay awake to listen.  
  
On the last day of the summer holidays before ninth grade, I said, "Right, when we go back to school we'll officially be teenagers. So I think we should let go of all the bonds that bind us to childhood by playing all the games we played when we were kids."  
  
"OK," said Thomas, who's one of my two closest friends. "Let's play a Great-Gramps Jones story." We had once had a storytelling session where he told us his three favourites of his stories - Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade - and it was a three-way split for those. In the end we ended up creating our own adventure, with a mixture of bits out of all of those and some stuff we made up there and then. After the others had gone home, I remained up in the attic, running my fingers over the inscriptions we'd all left: Indy, Lauren, Thomas, Michael, Hannah, Jamie-Lee. As I was trying to find my way back to the ladder down, I tripped over an old box. "OW!" I yelled, trying to get as few splinters as possible stuck in my skin. Then I realised what was written on the lid of the carton: NOT TO BE OPENED UNTIL THE DAY BEFORE INDY STARTS THE NINTH GRADE.  
  
After several hours trying to get the crate down the steps, I eventually locked the door of my room and dumped the contents of the case on my bed. There wasn't much: a journal, a book of blank pages, a treasure map, an envelope, a hat and a crumpled photograph. I turned it over to reveal a posed shot of a guy who looked like Harrison Ford wearing the hat that was in the box. I opened the envelope, which had my name on it. The letter inside read as follows:  
  
Dear Indy,  
  
Before you read any further, you must know about me. I know you probably believe that my stories did not really happen to me. Well, they did, and it is because of them that you are reading this right now.  
  
When your Great-Grams passed away, leaving me and your grandfather (who was about half the age you are now), I realised that I would have to leave an heir to the name of Jones. Your grandfather was never the type, nor was your mother. But when you were born, I looked into your eyes and I saw the fire that blazes in the eyes, heart and soul of a true Jones. That is why you are called for me, your Great-Gramps, because I asked your mother to. And you are the last of the line at present, so you must do as I command you.  
  
Hidden around the world are seven amulets - one for each colour of the rainbow. Your mission, along with two or three of your friends (make sure they are trustworthy, honest and adventurous spirits), is to search the world for these amulets. Without them the world is in danger of being destroyed by a terrible thing, pure evil that no-one else can prevent except you. The map will help you, and the photo is to remember me by on your travels. My journal is to act as advice to you, and there is a book for your own journal of your adventures. As for the hat: I wore that hat every time I was on a mission. Use what you have well.  
  
All my love,  
  
Great-Gramps  
  
I couldn't believe it. I have to go search the world for a bunch of dumb amulets? But I knew in my heart that these weren't any old amulets - they could be the objects that save the planet from an immanent devastation.  
  
That night at dinner, I said, "Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"Why didn't I tell you what?" Mom asked, half-listening.  
  
"About Great-Gramps," I said. "I found this box with a whole bunch of stuff in it this afternoon: hats, photos, letters, maps, journals." My voice had more than a touch of anger in it. "I don't see why I have to do it - I'm not even a real Jones."  
  
Mom reached out like she was going to hit me. "Listen to me, young lady!" she said sharply. "True, you are half your father, and maybe you don't look like a Jones, but your looks don't count - it's your personality. You have what your Great-Gramps had - that indomitable spirit, that perseverance, that determination, that fire that made him the greatest adventurer of all time. Now you will do what he told you to and go find those amulets!" 


	2. Crash Course

I didn't sleep that night. The hardest part was trying to do what Great- Gramps said in The Letter - who should I choose to come with me? I knew one of them would have to be Lauren. We've been best friends since we were tiny and she's got exactly the sort of personality I know Great-Gramps would have looked for in his fellow adventurers - she never gives up and is the sports queen of the group. I was worried about my second choice of companion - it was between Thomas and Michael. They've both got the same qualities - trustworthiness, honesty, adventurousness, and indomitable spirits - but Thomas is more practical and has had more experience of surviving in the wild.  
  
The next morning I called Lauren and told her about The Box and The Letter, and how I had to take two friends on the trip with me. "Will you come?" I asked, and then I had to hold the phone about six feet away from my ear because she was screaming so loud.  
  
"Are cabs yellow?" she quipped back. "Of course I'm coming! But did you decide on the other person yet?"  
  
I thought about it for a second. "Yeah, I have," I said. "See you later." I put the phone down and dialled the number. "Dammit!" I'd got through to the answering machine. "Thomas, it's Indy. I was just calling to see if you wanted to come search for these amulets with me. If you don't get this before school, I'll tell you then."  
  
I went downstairs to get some breakfast and found three airline tickets lying on my chair. "So are you going then or what?" asked Mom. I looked at the tickets - three minors to Kathmandu, Nepal. I looked at her face - anticipation, joy and sorrow mixed together. I could tell she knew what I had to do, but she didn't want to lose her thirteen-year-old daughter so soon. "Yes," I replied. "Yes, I'm going."  
  
I almost didn't want to catch the bus that morning - what was the point in going to school when I could be searching the world for amulets that would save mankind? But I knew I had to, so I could talk to Thomas and Lauren. They'd saved a seat for me on the bus, and before we knew it we were already planning to meet up after class.  
  
Ninth grade was a lot tougher than I thought it'd be. English, math, earth sciences and biology seemed to drag on for eternity, but I didn't care. Tonight was when Indi-Ana Jones followed her great-grandfather's footsteps and saved the world, all by boarding a plane bound for England. At lunch I went to the library and looked up the Rainbow Amulets on the Internet. Apparently each of the seven amulets stands for something different, and when one person holds the septet they can either control everyone and everything in the world if they are evil, or if they are for good they will ensure that the world's people are liberated. I read on: each amulet is hidden in a different corner of the world - one in Nepal, one in India, one in Australia, one in Africa, one in China, one in South America and one in Cambodia…  
  
"The deal is that no-one else knows about what we're going to do," Lauren said. We were sitting in Thomas' treehouse, with nothing except the Arizona desert for miles around us. "If we're going to do this, we've got to keep as much of it under wraps as possible. Our parents already know, but they are as far as it goes - deal?" We all piled our hands up on top of each other and shouted as we threw them back.  
  
The next morning, I was woken up by Mom gently shaking my shoulder. "Hey, kid," she said. "It's your big day. We've got to pick the others up, so you'd better get going." I threw on my green sleeveless top with the sequinned tiger motif, my combat trousers and my training shoes, and stuffed the printout of the information I'd found out about the amulets into my pocket. Glancing back, I remembered Great-Gramps' hat. Once I had it on, I was ready for anything.  
  
The flight to England and then the connection to Kathmandu were pretty uneventful, but I didn't think the plane we took into the Nepalese mountains would go as wrong as it did. The guy flying it seemed pretty cool to start with, but he couldn't say anything except "Yes…no…thank you" in a variety of patterns, and we couldn't speak a word of his native language, but I wasn't worried about that. As this was only a short flight, we decided to snatch another hour's sleep before we touched down…  
  
I was woken up by the plane's engine starting to give out. I muttered a string of gibberish, trying to shake off my fatigue. Staying low to the floor and trying not to wake the others, I made my way towards the cockpit. The pilot was nowhere to be seen, but the door was open. Looking back on it, I realised he must have jumped out, but there wasn't time to worry about that at the time. The question was, how was I going to land this plane safely without waking the others? I slipped into the seat and cast a wild glance over the jungle of dials and buttons in front of me. Slowly but surely, we started to go down. I could hear Lauren's screams ringing faintly in my ears, but I didn't care. All I was concentrating on was as few of us dying as possible. All I could see in front of me was peaks of snow, like meringues against the azure sky, and I knew we were going to crash straight into the side of the mountain that was right in front of my face. Suddenly, I managed to get a grip on the wheel and the joystick (hey, it's not my fault Nepalese technology isn't brilliant) and we swerved around the side of the mount and through a crevasse carved between two of them. Then the engine really did give out, and we were falling straight down, down, down… 


End file.
